Recently discussion was about the Default Look of AROS and more specifically what it should be. We concluded that it should be Amiga OS 3.x Look since AROS is supposed to be using that for compatibility.

With that in mind I've started looking into some new themes & new icons that are reminiscent of Amiga OS3.x but there's an issue to sort out first.

In the AROS theme "AmigaOS3.x" there seems to be a graphics gap on the right side just before the gadgets. What causes that? Is it a problem with the theme config?

miker, if you attach the theme, It looks like you don't have the IconIfy gadget (image). I can help you! use Dopus5 Magellan ?

Here is the theme. I gave it a name that seems more descriptive. It's the same as "AmigaOS3.x" theme in the basic AROS themes directory.

Google AI says that in the theme config this:

BarJoinBG = 299 2
should be BarJoinBG = 0 0

But I'm not sure that will work. I have two OS3.x Classic Themes and they both have a gap before the gadgets.

It may have something to do with Zune global.prefs for No Padding Bytes on Right Side for Classic Themes?

I'm planning to write a small program called Theme Builder. It's actually a theme replicator. It works with themes with solid fill colors. It copies the theme & changes colors. But I need a starting theme to copy.

The theme works well on my 32-bit AROS systems as well as on my AROS 68k systems.
It's definitely a problem with your system; try replacing the global file.

If your system is small, send me the details via PM and I might be able to help you.

Thanks for confirming.

I'll try it on my native AROS on my mini PC

What you showed in the screenshot isn't my “OS 3.x theme.” The screenshot shows the plain Intuition windows - that's what it looks like when you completely disable Themes in the settings.



I'll take a look at it when I have a free moment

It was confirmed by AMIGASYSTEM
that your theme is working correctly.

So it's my installation of AROS in VirtualBox that has issues. I'll try later today to test the theme on my native AROS installation on mini PC.

That issue has been resolved.

The OS3.x theme & the new theme provided by retrofaza work correctly with Wanderer. But they don't work with Dopus Magellan. Not sure why.

Now the problem is that I use Magellan & other people do too! So the OS3.x themes should look good.

@miker

on 68k I had always problems with magellan and the icons. Solution was to replace icon library with the icon library of PeterK by using remlib

The icons are working as expected but the window gadgets on the top right side are not correct in Magellan for the AROS OS3.x window themes.

However, Magellan on Caffeine OS has no problem with window gadgets.

Solution is on 68k to turn off themes at all then Magellan does it

I think I deleted global.prefs in env:zune directory

@OlafSch

That sounds like a good option. I'll try that. Once this is sorted out it may be a good title for a How To Article. "How to use OS3 Retro Themes with Wanderer or Magellan.

The retro-style OS3 themes certainly won’t appeal to those trying Aros for the first time; they’ll think Aros is something old-fashioned and outdated.

If we want to win over young people in particular, we need to showcase beautiful themes and icons to set ourselves apart from the icons found in modern operating systems.

On AROS One, I’ve removed the Amiga themes and any low-quality themes.

Why calling classic Amiga themes low-quality? It can come along. Don't we have beautiful, classic and high-quality Amiga themes?
Look at all those classic-look Ambient skins. There are plenty of them available.

Amiga Classic Themes don't have to be ugly! Some are quite nice. Anything that uses a Solid Fill Color & Gadgets that are Amiga-like is what I consider OS3 Modern based in part on Amiga OS3.x but better!

Some AROS users may want to decorate their Workbench to look like Amiga. OS3 Retro & OS3 Modern themes gives them that option. Especially AROS 68k users may want to use those retro themes.

I'm not saying that should be the default look of basic AROS that was just built from sources. It can be some other, nicer theme & background. But basic, unadorned AROS, freshly compiled, doesn't have to be ugly.

What I don’t understand is why it has to look like AMiGA. AROS has its own well-defined identity; it shouldn’t copy but be innovative. Let’s leave the past behind—it’s been more than 30 years now, and nobody knows AMiGA anymore. Otherwise, we’ll just end up making new users feel nostalgic.

The same goes for Ambient or Dopus5, why copy when we could create something new, innovative, and appealing to attract new users?

The problem is that “nice” is subjective. There is no default theme that will satisfy everyone, and changing the upstream default whenever somebody dislikes it just turns aesthetics into an endless cycle of “change it back.”
That's why the distinction between AROS itself and individual distributions matters. Distribution maintainers are free to decide how their particular distribution looks and what defaults it ships with.
The nightly builds aren't intended to be a polished, opinionated desktop product; they're a consistent environment for development and testing. If you prefer a different look, customise it or build a distribution around that preference.
Personal preference is a perfectly legitimate reason to customise your own system, but it's not a particularly good basis for changing the upstream project's defaults.

All right, I’m not talking about what’s beautiful or ugly; I’m talking about modern and old. For a new user to be drawn in, they need to notice something different or appealing. Seeing a window from 30 years ago is already a reason not to linger, because they might think it’s something old and unusable by today’s standards.

Who determines? a window border isn't what will keep people away ... having to do extra steck to do daily tasks vs what people are used to is what will keep people from lingering. This font , that theme, those icons ... none of that matters most linux distros are chosen based upon the desktop manager not the icon set or background color. You want to gain users support the people driving it forward so they have the resources needed to continue. You want AROS to have it's own identity stop begging for Ambient or the next DOpus ... AROS has an identity and that's where focus should be not begging for a port of someone else's identity.


https://www.youtu...jew2YtVDF4

In the end, you picked up on my train of thought your video shows the path to follow, which is to improve Wanderer! As for the graphics, “the eye wants its share, too.”